Use of IT, AI inevitable to enhance agriculture yield: President

ISLAMABAD, Mar 12 (APP):President Dr Arif Alvi Thursday said the use of information technology (IT) and artificial intelligence (AI) in the agriculture sector were inevitable to enhance the yield and reduce the production cost.

Addressing the inaugural session of National Dialogue on Agriculture held by National Assembly Secretariat, he said the national security was linked with the food security.

National Assembly Speaker Asad Qaiser, federal ministers and parliamentarians attended the event.

The president said in order to achieve the desired results, it was essential to acquaint the farmers with the latest agriculture research as increased production cost had badly affected the sector.

He congratulated the NA speaker for the formation of a parliamentary committee on agriculture.

He said though agriculture continued to be the backbone of Pakistan’s economy yet lack of expertise in the sector was an unfortunate which needed to be rectified.

He said 18.5 percent of the country’s population was linked with the agriculture sector but the yield was constantly on decline requiring serious efforts.

He said even the loss of five percentage of the yield affected the growers. He said in order to reduce the losses in fisheries sector, cold storage were established to resolve the issue.

He said the agriculture sector could not survive without water, sunlight, pesticides and fertilizer and called for adoption of sprinkle irrigation instead of flood irrigation to conserve water. He also called for special focus on development of cotton seeds.

The president said Pakistan could also benefit from the robot technology being used by the world for irrigation and other uses in the agriculture.

He said the government had taken positive steps for uplift of agriculture sector and emphasized for promotion of cash crops. By encouraging the plantation of olive plants, Pakistan could increase its exports.

The president also stressed for benefiting from research by the newly qualified students of agriculture universities.

He said drastic steps were required for betterment of the agriculture sector by evolving a national census on the subject.

He said despite immense potential of inland fisheries, the country’s exports could only increase from $300 million in 1999 to $500 million while a neighboring country had touched $10 billion.